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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-12-24, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2015. Editorials Opinions Publisher: Keith Roulston Editor: Shawn Loughlin • Reporter: Denny Scott Advertising Sales: Lori Patterson & Brenda Nyveld The Citizen P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. N0M 1H0 Ph. 519-523-4792 Fax 519-523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. N0G 1H0 Phone 519-887-9114 E-mail info@northhuron.on.ca Website www.northhuron.on.ca Looking Back Through the Years CCNA Member Member of the Ontario Press Council The Citizen is published 50 times a year in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $36.00/year ($34.29 + $1.71 G.S.T.) in Canada; $160.00/year in U.S.A. and $205/year in other foreign countries. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Mon. 2 p.m. - Brussels; Mon. 4 p.m. - Blyth. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40050141 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 152 BRUSSELS ON N0G 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca December 24, 2001 Blyth photographer Jill Cooper was honoured after joining the military and topping the Canadian Forces’ Air Force imagery course. After years of working locally on both photography and advertising, Cooper set her sights on the military and excelled immediately. “I was quite impressed with the quality of the equipment and the level of knowledge of the instructors,” she said. “I had taken a course in journalism in college, and I can tell you that in comparison, the facilities and equipment that we had access to were better in Borden. I enjoyed the course very much.” A campaign called the Heart and Soul campaign, aimed at revitalizing the Blyth and District Community Centre, received a huge boost in the form of $1.4 million in funding from both the provincial and federal governments. With a final price tag of $2 million, those involved with the campaign still had some work to do, but they were over halfway there with the help of the upper tiers of government. Despite a season that was hailed as a success by critics throughout the province, the Blyth Festival found itself in a deficit position of nearly $150,000. One of the major factors in the Festival season’s bottom line was the high cost to produce The Outdoor Donnellys. Despite the show’s completely sold-out run, it simply broke even due to its high production costs. Karen Hoegy of Walton was one of five winners of a new Volvo in the Canadian Cancer Society’s first-ever lottery. December 22, 2011 In just over one hour, students at Central Huron Secondary School raised over $2,200 for Movember, a November campaign started by Prostate Cancer Canada to help battle the deadly disease. Instead of hosting a gift exchange for Christmas, members of the Saugeen Maitland PeeWee AA Lightning donated over $500 to a family in Goderich that lost their home and belongings in the August tornado in Goderich. Former teacher Cheryl Cronin reflected upon 25 years on the piano for the Blyth Public School Christmas concert. She remembered the great community environment created at the school around the holidays and the standing room-only concerts that were held over the years. She, as well as other local teachers, were saddened as a handful of schools were due to close in spring, 2012, meaning the 2011 Christmas concert would be the schools’ last after decades of holiday history. After he had his leg badly broken in the Goderich tornado, local Jim Johnston eventually got back on his feet thanks to the generosity of several service clubs. Nearly $40,000 was raised for Johnston by the Blyth Legion, the Legion Ladies Auxiliary and the Blyth Lions Club. Jenny Versteeg, chair of the Avon Maitland District School Board, predicted that 2012 would be a “tough year” for the board and its budget. Two major factors in Versteeg making that statement were accommodation issues, as well as labour pressures that continued to make life difficult for the board of trustees. In response to a query from a parent, the board said that there were no plans to expand French immersion to new schools. December 25, 2014 Huron East Council was concerned with the amount of “pushback” it was getting from one of its committees, the Brussels Medical Dental Centre Committee, regarding necessary improvements at the centre. With accessibility concerns looming at the centre, councillors were committed to making changes at the building, while some councillors felt some committee members weren’t quite as enthusiastic. Members of the Blyth BIA were busy out in the community handing out a number of awards, including first place in its Christmas decorating contest, which went to Joanne and Murray Souch at the north end of the village. In an attempt to increase the compliance of the municipality’s fire department, Central Huron Council moved to hire a full-time fire chief for the first time in its history. Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson and Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman were in Blyth to donate a number of carbon monoxide detectors to the Fire Department of North Huron. The generosity helped mark an issue that’s close to Hardeman’s heart, battling the danger of carbon monoxide in homes. Thirty-three people were arrested as part of an OPP drug bust. Those charged with crimes came from Huron, Lambton and Perth Counties. The bust resulted in the seizure of over $100,000 worth of street drugs spanning from cocaine to marijuana to methamphetamine. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. We are not responsible for unsolicited newsscripts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Taking our lumps Rural Ontario municipalities are getting their lumps (of coal and otherwise) this Christmas as they find out just how much their cuts to the province’s Ontario Municipal Partnership Funding (OMPF) will be. Huron County faces a cut of $420,000 in 2016, its fourth straight year of reduction and Treasurer Michael Blumhagen has warned councillors that it’s likely this provincial assistance will disappear entirely in the next five years. Huron East, already hit hard over the past few years, faces a cut of $290,000 from the province at the same time it’s being asked to pay $190,000 more for Ontario Provincial Police services. Morris- Turnberry will see its OMPF grant reduced by $150,000. Provincial policies seem designed to follow the urban/rural divide that’s been evident in voting patterns in the last two provincial elections. The Liberal government is very concerned about solving the problems of citizens of major urban areas. Part of the rationale of selling off a portion of Hydro One has been to raise money for urban transit systems. Money raised from the proposed cap and trade system which is supposed to reduce the province’s carbon emissions, will also go to transit projects. These schemes will likely add to the costs of rural residents without giving them any benefits. Rural Ontario has also paid disproportionately for the province’s green energy program because wide swaths of the countryside have been cluttered with thousands of wind turbines, while the jobs of building those turbines go to urban centres. Is there anyone within the provincial Liberal government who has any awareness of the need to treat rural Ontario fairly? It certainly feels like the government has written off rural Ontario. – KR A terrorist is a terrorist When a woman drove her car into pedestrians on a Las Vegas sidewalk on Sunday, a city police official rushed to assure the population that it was not a terrorist act — as if it mattered to the dead and injured. If a white person goes on a shooting spree, as seems to happen once a week in the U.S., he’s regarded as an emotionally damaged individual. If an equally damaged person happens to be Muslim, he becomes a terrorist and it’s somehow a more frightening act. If sick people kill others, their skin colour or religious background doesn’t make much difference to the devastation that results. – KR Setting an example Ironically, tragedy sometimes provides the opportunity to see humanity at its best, and the vicious civil war in Syria is doing just that. Interviewed on CBC Radio’s program The Current last week, Syrian journalist Erhain Zaina said Canada’s response to her country’s refugee crisis has restored her faith in humanity. Zaina keeps returning to Aleppo, her devastated home city, despite the war. She has trained 100 citizen reporters, a third of them women, to report on the war between the corrupt Syrian government and various rebel armies including the vicious Muslim extremist group ISIS. Her work won her the Peter Merkler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism from the U.S. branch of Reporters Without Borders. But Zaina admitted she was discouraged by the lack of response by the world to the Syrian refugee crisis. Europe, she said, didn’t help until hundreds of thousands of desperate refugees risked their lives in flimsy boats to reach Europe, before trekking across the continent seeking peace and security. Even the United Nations seemed overwhelmed, Zaina said. It was Canada’s response, both through our government and ordinary citizens, that gave her hope for humanity. The efforts of individual citizens and community groups in sponsoring refugees is particularly encouraging. These people do more than donate their money. Many people are throwing themselves into helping refugees adapt to the strange new land with strange new ways. Unfortunately, the 25,000 refugees Canada has pledged to accept is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of people who have been displaced by this cruel war. If we can set an example that gives brave people like Erhain Zaina hope to keep going, however, that effort can be larger than the mere number of people helped. – KR & Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise.